Tape activated piano and organ player

ABSTRACT

A system for recording piano or organ music on a recording tape and replaying the tape to actuate a reproduction of the music on a playback piano or organ, the system including electrical means to sample, store and transmit signals from the individual keys of the first instrument to a recording tape, means to count a predetermined number of these signals and to continuously reset the system to sample, store and transmit a further predetermined number of signals after each predetermined number has been transmitted, and means to receive the transmitted signals from the tape, and reproduce these signals on the second instrument by means of causing each signal to actuate a means to play a corresponding key on the second instrument.

United States Patent [1 1 Maillet TAPE ACTIVATED I IANO AND ORGAN PLAYER [76] Inventor: Joseph Maillet, Hammonton, NJ.

[22] -Filed: Aug. 28, 1972 211 App]. No.: 284,352

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1971 Englund 84/1.03 10/1971 3,647,929 3/1972 3,195,389 7/1965 3,683,096 8/1972 Peterson 84/1.03 X

[4 1 Feb. 5, 1974 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-John F. Gonzales Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Arthur A. Jacobs, Esq.

57 ABSTRACT A system for recording piano or organ music on a recording tape and replaying the tape to actuate a reproduction of the music on a playback piano or organ, the system including electrical means to sample, store and transmit signals from the individual keys of the first instrument to a recording tape, means to count a predetermined number of these signals and to continuously reset the system to sample, store and transmit a further predetermined number of signals after each predetermined number has been transmitted, and means to receive the transmitted signals from the tape, and reproduce these signals on the second instrument by means of causing each signal to actuate a means to play a corresponding key on the second instrument.

5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures IO I 3 I2 28; Fl F 5;]

as as as as 1 TAPE ACTIVATED PIANO AND ORGAN PLAYER piano, and the complexity of the player-piano which required the use of bellows or vacuum pumps which, in turn, were subject to air leaks.

In accordance with the present invention, tapes are used to record and playback the music of a piano or organ. The advantages of the use of such tapes are that the piano or organ is less complex and less expensive to build and maintain, there'is no problem of fumbling and tearing of the recorded music, the tapes hold much more recorded media in a relatively small space and are, consequently, easier to handle and store, and they are much less costly and easier to produce than perforated rolls. Furthermore, if a cassette type tape means is used, it is never necessary to touch the actual tape which is simply plugged in or out.

lt is, therefore, one object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of prior paper-roll type pianos and organs by'utilizing tapes, especially of the cassette type, for the purpose of recording and playing back musical data. Another object 'of the present invention'is to provide tape-actuated player-type pianos and organs which are relatively simplein construction, easy to use, and inexpensive to build and maintain.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a recording system embodying the present invention. 7

FIG. 2 is a schematicview' of a play-backsystem embodying the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the piano key and switch constructionut'ilized in the recording system of this invention. t

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a micro-switch con struction utilized in the recording system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the shift register utilized utilized in the recording system of the present invention.

Referring now in greater detail to the figures of the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 a series of piano or organ keys l0, totaling88 in number. Each key 10 (as i best seen in FIG. 3) is mounted on a fulcrum l2. Spaced from the fulcrum 12 is a micro-switch l4 having a plunger 16 in contact with the underside of the key 10. The micro-switch 14 comprises a switch blade 18 connected to a ground through a metal frameZO'enclosed in the instrument. The blade 18 is normally closed against a contact or sensor 22 connected to the key and is normally spaced from the contact 24 which is in electrical connection with a shift register device 26 through a computer logic AND gate 28.

The key 10 normally presses down on the" plunger 16,

A and the plunger exerts pressure on the blade 18, with which it is engaged, to hold the blade 18 against the contact 22. This provides a ground inhibit which prevents electrical flow through the AND gate. When the key 10 is depressed, the pressure of the plunger 16 is released and the blade 18 moves away from the sensor contact 22 and against the contact 24. The blade 18 is thereby removed from the common ground network and is now floating; This serves to remove the ground inhibit from the corresponding computer logic AND gate 28 and permits passage of the key pulses from the AND gate 28 into the shift register 26.

The shift register 26 is an 88 stage parallel in, serial out. Each stage comprises a flip-flop unit which is set by a signal from the corresponding AND gate 28. I

The shift register 26 is shown schematically in greaterdetail in FIG. 5 and includes 88 stages 30, the first and the last three of which are illustrated. Each stage com prises a flip-flop consisting of two transistors, indicated as 1" and 0. When one of these transistors is conducting, the other is non-conducting. Normally, the 0" transistors are conducting but are made nonconducting while the l transistors are made conducting by a square wave constituting the clock pulse.

,The clock pulse is generated by a master oscillator 32 (see FIG. 1) which is provided with a frequency divider (not shown) of standard construction. This arrangement permits the generation of two sine waves, one of which has twice the frequency of the other. The smaller frequency wave is sent through a square wave generator 34, which may be of the type known as a Schmidt trigger. The square wave generated thereby constitutes the clock pulse, indicated at 36, which is passed to each stage 30. This clock pulse acts to shift the stored key pulses 38 from one stage to the next.

The key pulses 38 are provided by the corresponding AND gates 28. If a key 10 is struck it acts to set the key pulse in the 1" transistor of the corresponding stage 30 of the shift register. These key pulses are then shifted from one stage to the next by the clock pulses 36. If the key 10 for a particular stage 30 is not struck, no key pulse is present at that stage and the clock pulse passes no data therefrom.

The key pulse generated by the last stage 30 of the I I shift register 26 is passed onto a recording tape 40 through a multiplexer unit hereinafter more fully described. When 88 keys have beensampled, the shift register is cleared by a sync pulse and is then reset for the sampling of another 88 key pulses.

The sync pulse, for clearing and resetting the shift register is indicated at 42 (see FIG. 5). This sync pulse 42 is provided by the action of a binary counter 44 through a sync pulse generator 46. The sync pulse 42 acts to move the 0 transistors in each'stage of the shift register 26 to conducting and the 1 transistors to non-conducting. The sync pulse 42 is also passed through the multiplexer assembly (hereinafter described) to the tape'40.

The binary counter 44 is shown schematically in nary counter are similar to the stages 30 of the shift register in that each has an transistor and a l tran sistor which are alternately conducting and nonconducting. Each square wave pulse 45 generates a change in state from conducting to non-conducting of the O and l transistors, thereby triggering the next adjacent flip-flop stage.

The signals from the stages A through G are transmitted to a sync pulse generator 46, shown schematically in FIG. 7, which is constructed to count to 88 pulses before generating the sync pulse 42. The sync pulse generator-46 consists of the respective AND gates 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 and 62. The AND gate 50 must receive pulses from both stages A and B of the binary counter 44 before generating a signal, the AND gate 52 must,

similarly, receive pulses from both stages C and D, the

AND gate 54 must, similarly, receive pulses from stages E and F, and the AND gate 56 must, similarly, receive pulses from stage G and from the square wave generator 34. The AND gates 50 and 52 combine to generate a signal to AND gate 58 and the AND gates 54 and 56 combine to generate a signal to AND gate 60. The AND gates 58 and 60, in turn, must combine to generate a signal to AND gate 62. The AND gate 50 receives its signals from the 0.sides of flip-flops A and B; the AND gate 52 receives its signals from the 0 side of C and the 1 side of D; the AND gate 54 receives its signals from the 1 .side ofEand the 0 side of F; and

the AND gate 56 receives its signals from the l side of G and from the oscillator. The sync pulse generator 46 is arranged to generate the sync pulse 42 from AND gate 62 when 88 square wave pulses have been counted.

A second sync pulse generator, generally designated 64, is identical to the generator 46 exceptthat it receives its signal into the AND.gate 50 from the l side of A and is constructed to count to 89 before generating a sync pulse 66. This sync pulse 66 is directed into the AND gates 28 to enable these AND gates to receive a further sampling ofthe 88 key pulses. The sync pulse 66 is also directed into the seven stages of the binary counter 44 to reset the binary counter (see FIG. 6) to enable it to begin a new counting sequence.

The multiplexer unit (see FIG. 1) comprises a binary counter 68, which is similar to binary counter 44, ex-

cept that it contains only two stages which count only to three and then reset. The binary counter 68 receives a square wave clock pulse 70 from the master oscillator 32 and square wave generator 72. This wave has twice the frequency of the wave 36.

The binary counter 68 is in circuit with three AND gates 74, 76, and 78. The AND gate 74 is activated by a pulse 80 from the first stage of the binary counter 68 and a clock pulse 82 from the square wave generator 34. The second AND gate 76 is activated by a pulse 84 from the second stage of the binary counter 68 and the key pulse 38 from the shift register 26. The third AND gate 78 is activated by the combination of pulses 80 and 84 plus the sync pulse 42.

When each AND gate 74, 76 and 78 is activated, it sends a corresponding signal to the tape 40.

tem sends the clock pulse, key pulseand sync pulsefrom the tape 40 through a switching and AND gate assembly, generally designated 90, which is identical to that shown at 74, 76 and 78 in FIG. 1 but operating in reverse. The clock pulses and key pulses, indicated respectively at 92 and 94, are fed from the assembly into shift register 96, identical to shift register 26 but functioning as a serial in, parallel out device. The clock pulses step the key pulses through the shift register 96. Any data impressed on the key pulses are passed to the corresponding AND gates 98 to which is also passed the sync pulses from the tape, indicated at 100. Upon activation of a particular AND gate 98, it activates a corresponding triac 102 operatively connected to a solenoid 104. The solenoid 104 actuates a plunger 106 which impinges against a corresponding piano or organ hammer 108, thereby replaying the keys as originally recorded on the tape The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for recording and reproducing music on a keyboard instrument comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keys, each key being operatively connected to a switch means, each of said switch means beingactuatable by depression of the corresponding key to send a key pulse to an electrical impulse storage 1 stages, each stage corresponding to a key on said'ke board, each of said stages comprising a flip-flop transis'-' tor assembly, a separate signal gate in circuit between the switch means of each key of said keyboard and said shift register, said signal gates being actuatable to send a signalto the corresponding stages of the shift register upon actuation of the corresponding switch means by depression of the corresponding key of said keyboard, oscillator means in electrical circuit with said shift register to send clock pulses through said shift register to shift the signals from said signal gates from stage to stage of said shift register onto said recording tape, and a binary counter in electrical circuit with said shift register, said binary counter also being in electrical circuit with said oscillator and being constructed and arranged to count the number of clock pulses from said oscillator in synchronism with the clock pulses sent to said shift register, said binary counter being in electrical circuit with two sync pulse generators, one of said sync pulse generators being constructed and arranged to send a sync pulse signal to said shift register to reset all the stages of said shift register after a first predetermined number of clock pulses have been counted by said bi? nary counter, and the other sync pulse generator being constructed and arranged to send a second sync pulse signal to 'said signal gates and to said binary counter to reset said signal gates and said binary counter after a second predetermined number of clock pulses have been counted by. said binary counter.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including playback means to receive the samplings from said recording tape and apply them to the keyboard of a second instrument, said playback means including an actuating means for each key of said second keyboard, each actuating means being responsive to a corresponding key pulse from said recording tape and being constructed and arranged to actuate the corresponding key on said second keyboard.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a multiplexer assembly is constructed and arranged to receive said key pulse, clock pulse and first sync pulse and to pass said pulses to said recording tape.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said multiplexer assembly comprises a second binary counter in electrical circuit with said oscillator to receive pulses therefrom, said second binary counter being in electrical circuit with-a plurality of signal gates, each signal gate being constructed and arranged to receive either a key pulse, a clock pulse or a first sync pulse and to pass such corresponding pulses to said recording tape upon receiving a signal from the corresponding stages of said second binary counter.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein an amplified clock pulse from said oscillator is superimposed onto the clock pulse sent to said recording tape by said multiplexer assembly. 

1. An apparatus for recording and reproducing music on a keyboard instrument comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keys, each key being operatively connected to a switch means, each of said switch means being actuatable by depression of the corresponding key to send a key pulse to an electrical impulse storage means, said storage means being constructed and arranged to provide a sampling of each key through the open or closed position of its corresponding switch to determine whether the key has been depressed, means to shift each sampling from said storage means to a recording tape, and means to reset said storage means for a further sampling of said keys after a predetermined number of keys have been sampled; said storage means being an electrical shift register having a series of stages, each stage corresponding to a key on said keyboard, each of said stages comprising a flip-flop transistor assembly, a separate signal gate in circuit between the switch means of each key of said keyboard and said shift register, said signal gates being actuatable to send a signal to the corresponding stages of the shift register upon actuation of the corresponding switch means by depression of the corresponding key of said keyboard, oscillator means in electrical circuit with said shift register to send clock pulses through said shift register to shift the signals from said signal gates from stage to stage of said shift register onto said recording tape, and a binary counter in electrical circuit with said shift register, said binary counter also being in electrical circuit with said oscillator and being constructed and arranged to count the number of clock pulses from said oscillator in synchronism with the clock pulses sent to said shift register, said binary counter being in electrical circuit with two sync pulse generators, one of said sync pulse generators being constructed and arranged to send a sync pulse signal to said shift register to reset all the stages of said shift register after a first predetermined number of clock pulses have been counted by said binary counter, and the other sync pulse generator being constructed and arranged to send a second sync pulse signal to said signal gates and to said binary counter to reset said signal gates and said binary counter after a second predetermined number of clock pulses have been counted by said binary counter.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 including playback means to receive the samplings from said recording tape and apply them to the keyboard of a second instrument, said playback means including an actuating means for each key of said second keyboard, each actuating means being responsive to a corresponding key pulse from said recording tape and being constructed and arranged to actuate the corresponding key on said second keyboard.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a multiplexer assembly is constructed and arranged to receive said key pulse, clock pulse and first sync pulse and to pass said pulses to said recording tape.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said multiplexer assembly comprises a second binary counter in electrical circuit with said oscillator to receive pulses therefrom, said second binary counter being in electrical circuit with a plurality of signal gates, each signal gate being constructed and arranged to receive either a key pulse, a clock pulse or a first sync pulse and to pass such corresponding pulses to said recording tape upon receiving a signal from the corresponding stages of said second binary counter.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein an amplified clock pulse from said oscillator is superimposed onto the clock pulse sent to said recording tape by said multiplexer assembly. 